Who Preserves Heritage?

African Americans celebrate ‘Homecoming’ and re-internment of
their ancestral human remains in the African Burial Ground October 2003.

Heritage Preservationists range from everyday people acting informally as concerned
citizens, to citizens actively engaged in preservation at the local community
level, to those who along with professional preservationists operate more formally
in wider domains at the municipal, state, region, national, or international
level. Within these contexts NPS participates both informally and formally in
heritage preservation.

HP in Local Domains

When everyday people affirm their identities by celebrating cultural traditions
and “re-presentation” of their heritage they are using culture and
history strategically to bring about social change (Alonso 1988). The preservation
of one’s history through commemorating people and events or preserving
sites and structures are some of the most common cultural strategies people
use. A society’s philosophy, values, ethics, and morality are embodied
in the institutions, events, heroes, and “sheroes,” that everyday
people memorialize (Alonso 1994).

Locally people may pass on oral traditions or protect historic structures, landscapes,
or objects from destruction or deterioration. Protection and stewardship of
cemeteries is one of the most common examples of informal heritage preservation
by local community groups. However, formal heritage
preservation also takes place in local domains. Furthermore, the distinction
between informal and formal heritage preservation blurs as “concerned
citizens” become more involved in heritage preservation activities.

In another example, a local concerned citizen cared for the Frederick Douglas
home in the Anacostia community of Washington, DC for over a decade before the
structure and its contents became part of the National Park System. Local community
heritage preservationists protect photographs, documents, and memorabilia comprising
the heritage and history of the Anacostia community from mid-19th century to
the present. They also actively engage in oral presentations at local schools
and other community sites to pass on local history and heritage traditions to
new generations (Dale 2002).

Melissa Fuel Cuther, a Missouri schoolteacher who recognized the significance
of George Washington Carver’s contributions to American society, determined
that his birthplace should be preserved, and his accomplishments and his life
as a humanitarian commemorated in perpetuity (Carver Memorial Yearbook 1943–1953;
Kidder 1968; William Jackson, Personal Communication 1999). Working almost completely
in the informal sector of heritage preservation, in 1943 Cuther succeeded in
gaining Congressional authorization of Carver’s birthplace as the first
National Park unit commemorating African American history and heritage.

Informal heritage preservation activities often merge with formal activities
at the municipal, state, and national level, in both the private and public
sector. A case in point is the story of what were initially informal heritage
preservation activities of African American women developed into more formal
actions resulting in establishment of the
first national park honoring an African American woman. What we describe
here as “heritage preservation,” everyday people may call “just
being concerned citizens.” NPS also alludes to concerned citizens in Directors
Orders 75A when it uses the terms “civic engagement and public involvement”
to describe the essential stewardship role the public has in taking care of
national parks for the enjoyment of present and future generations (NPS 2003a).
For the NPS, public contributions vastly improve the decision-making process
in parks by introducing or enhancing understanding of diverse concepts and distinct
perspectives held by park partners and the public.